Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 27 October 2020
The member should be aware, if he has been briefed properly, that engagement with the UK Government on free ports continues. Officials are engaging regularly. In the past few weeks, I had a meeting with Steve Barclay, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, specifically on that point, and I also gave evidence on the issue to the House of Commons International Trade Committee.
Perhaps the member does not know what is happening; Alister Jack certainly does not, because I saw him on television on Sunday and, frankly, he did not understand the level of engagement that has been taking place. He has clearly been badly briefed, too.
The problem with free ports is that the UK Government has not yet told us, other than in a flashy headline, what the substance of those will be. The UK Government has not explained what the tax incentives will be, either through customs regulations and tariffs or through reserved taxes. We do not know what the proposal is down south for what would be devolved taxes and how much we would have to fund on that basis. The UK Government has not given us a range of other information that we have asked for on economic impact and the potential for economic displacement.
As a responsible Government that is looking at Scotland’s economy in a responsible way, we want to understand what the risks of free ports are as well as the opportunities before we determine what makes sense and whether we should or should not take them forward.
The member should of course recognise that free ports are a sticking plaster on the gaping wound that has been caused by the economic self-harm as a consequence of the UK Government’s decision to plough ahead with a completely misjudged exit from the European Union at the end of this year.